CH 27

“Good morning, My Lord.”

“….”

The Duke glanced at Beatty, who greeted brightly.

“My Lord?”

Did she make a mistake because she didn’t know the etiquette? Beatty was nervous and noticed.

“…Aide.”

The Duke turned a blind eye to Beatty, who called him ‘My Lord’, and called the aide who was standing next to him instead.

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“You must’ve already prepared what I said yesterday, right?”

“Ah, ‘that’? Of course. Should I bring it in right away?”

“Yeah.”

“?”

Suddenly, Beatty agonized over his intention at the Duke’s words of searching for ‘that’ in a way that was incomprehensible to outsiders.

‘Is he ignoring me on purpose? To show me that it’s not worth listening to me?’

Glance.

Beatty secretly looked at the Duke’s complexion, but she couldn’t read anything from his consistently blunt face.

‘…It’s okay, where’s the spirit that I had until I came here? Let’s cheer up!’

Tightly.

Beatty clenched her fist and tried to encourage herself.

‘No matter how openly Father wants to throw me out, since I will make an irresistible and tempting offer once he hears it!’

And like that, in front of Beatty, who was so determined, was a huge plate of desserts.

“…Huh?”

“Hm-hm.”

Upon receiving the Duke’s glance, the aide opened his mouth.

“Young Miss, this is the most popular cookie kingdom these days with each plate expressing themes that you will like.”

‘What is… this….’

While Beatty was overwhelmed by the majesty of cookie plates stacked almost like a mountain range.

“It is the work of a cookie master craftsman from Yootu who is famous for his dexterity which was specially brought by His Excellency.”

The aide, who misunderstood Beatty’s reaction with her mouth open, proudly added.

‘I had clearly delivered that His Excellency thinks of the Young Miss this much!’

The aide that sends the look of completion of a mission.

Beatty who was bewildered by the mountain of cookies.

And the Duke who doesn’t move at all. 

Although he still had a blunt face.

“….”

Looking at the child who had her head down, his golden eye was shining with anticipation.

***

There was a quiet silence in the room.

Crisp.

All that could be heard was the sound of little by little cutting and eating cookies that had a snowflake-like texture.

‘Why am I….’

After entering the Duke’s office for the deal, Beatty was forced to eat snacks for some reason.

And the Duke himself didn’t even pick up anything, not even one piece.

‘I lessened it again.’

The snacks which were piled up only on Beatty’s plate were in the shape of a sculpture that would have been fascinating for the first time. However—

‘I’m full….’

It wasn’t stuffy at all to sit in front of an uncomfortable person and eat alone under the silent coercion.

Gulp.

When she barely passed the last piece, the Duke opened his mouth as if he had waited.

“You want more?”

“No!”

‘I can’t eat anymore!’

Beatty, who suffered from being fed like that, wondered if this was a new way of harassment,  and then hurriedly opened her mouth.

“Ahem! Thank you for giving me a great refreshment. However, as I said at the beginning, there’s a deal that I really want to propose.”

The child’s appearance of speaking a long sentence as if imitating an adult had a side that evoked a heartwarming situation.

The Duke opened his mouth as he swallowed the smile that almost came out without himself realizing it.

“A proposal?”

“Yes. It’s something that will become a big help to the Duchy.”

For a moment, the appearance of the Duke tilting his head looked similar to her Older Brother whom she had often seen.

Somehow Beatty became a little at ease.

As she had practiced alone several times, Beatty now opened her mouth hoping that she would look like a very smart trading partner.

“Recently, didn’t the merchants who came in and out of the territory were suddenly cut off?”

“How did you know that?”

Beatty felt proud to see the Duke’s slightly surprised expression.

‘I’ve been observing diligently!’

Since they wouldn’t like it if she came into sight, so that it wouldn’t be unpleasant for them, it was information that was collected by Beatty secretly walking around in her squirrel form.

Of course, contrary to Beatty’s idea, the Northerners, who had extremely developed physical senses due to their surrounding environment, were all aware of it.

There were several employees who saw the Young Miss wandering around in her squirrel form who was not even close to collecting information, suffered from cuteness, and blocked their unidentified scream with their fists.

‘The preparation is perfect.’

Of course, Beatty, who had no idea of this kind of situation, continued in a confident voice.

“In order to feed the people of this huge territory, surely it would not be enough to just hunt in the mountains. Therefore, the existence of the merchants who supply food is essential.”

The Duke seemed like had no intention to refute the obvious fact, and was seen to be nodding his head lightly.

The northern mountain range with huge arms stretched out next to and behind the Duchy as if it was embracing the Aslan Duchy.

This mountain range was a natural wall that was strategically perfect for defense.

‘Even though it is like that for the defense side, but….’

On the agriculture side, it is the lowest of all.

The problem was that such kind of land was accounted for a significant portion of the Duchy’s territory.

Most of the time, the rough mountainous area, the Duchy, always lacked food to produce on its own, and the merchants that came to the Duchy always brought carts full of grain.

Although the territory’s food production was poor, animal skins that could be caught in the mountains instead were famous good products, and the wealth of the Duke of Aslan Family, who ruled over the territory, was bold enough to be rumored to remain even after buying grains from the entire continent.

‘Because it’s not a place where the territory’s people were starving and the Duke of Aslan wouldn’t open his pocket to feed them.’

Feeling a little proud, Beatty recalled an important event of this period.

After regressing, she had checked that now was Year 718 of the Continental Calendar.

It was a time when there was a continental famine.

At that time, it was said that the grain prices rose to gold prices, and she remembered exactly the reduced meals which were brought by the maids.

‘During this period, they said that the Duchy was in trouble because there were no merchants who brought grain to the Duchy, right?’

‘Suffering from ‘the first retreat’, the Aslan Duchy was once again being put into the mud.’

‘Certainly, there has never been a merchant wagon coming and going in recent days.’

It was normal for the lord of the territory’s castle this large to have people come and go several times a day.

However, it was certainly strange that there was no carriage of the merchants of other regions for a few days.

‘If the territory’s supply and demand is a problem because the merchants aren’t coming….’

About that, a definite solution has already been seen.

Beatty straightened herself up confidently.

“I can solve the problem for you.”

Sparkle. Sparkle. 

The Duke’s eyes became round for a moment after seeing Beatty’s shining eyes, and soon shook his head and spoke in a calm voice.

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Yes? However, the food supply will soon—”

“Since it’s enough to just bring it from another kingdom.”

“…?”

For a moment, Beatty blinked as if she had heard it wrongly.

However, it wasn’t.

“It seems that you had a lot of thoughts about the lack of military rice before. But it was just a matter of time.”

“Uhm….”

“Even if you don’t worry, the conquest of the Sadis Kingdom is scheduled in the fall.”

The Duke was confident.

“As it is famous for its wheat plain, it will harvest a considerable amount of grain. That’s enough to get through this winter.”

“….”

That confidence, saying that he was going to empty the warehouse of the enemy kingdom he had entrusted.

“If it doesn’t come from our territory, we can just bring it from somewhere else.”

The spirit of considering other countries’ stockpiles as self-emergency food.

As if that was a natural matter, at the Duke’s words explaining as if teaching the child basic common sense, Beatty forgot what to say for a moment.

‘Indeed, the Aslan Family…!’

He was just like the Lord of the Household, who was called as the guardian in the kingdom, and a gangster in the continent.

‘This is why they are called combat races.’

Beatty was enlightened.

No, there is no rumor from the dirt chimney.

The nickname of cursing at Aslan as a ‘combat race’, saying that they only know how to fight and that the race is completely different, are with a base.

The Duke of Aslan Family who endured the freezing winter every year and defeated the enemy in the northernmost part of the kingdom.

There was a reason why they prospered for a long time in the battle.

“That’s right. Young Miss, please do not worry!”

The Duke’s aide also confidently opened his mouth to reassure the Young Miss.

“As long as the lion’s flag is in sight, they’ll tremble, put out the key to the warehouse, and lie down!”

‘No, I mean, even if you say that with confidence….’

The aide said as he looked at the Duke.

“We had to empty it off next year, so we let it slide in moderation before, but didn’t these guys break the road to the Holy Kingdom and hit us in the back of the head this time?”

“They did indeed.”

“This time, we’ll completely empty it off without any mercy!”

Another country’s warehouse is like my warehouse.

It was the major part to have a friendly conversation, saying that warehouses in a kingdom somewhere were really worthwhile to be emptied.

‘No. But…. This year, even if you’re going to empty it off, there will be nothing to be emptied off!’

Losing her mind due to the spirit of this imposing family, Beatty raised her head.

“The drought this time should not be taken lightly.”

“Drought?”

At Beatty’s firm words, the Duke looked at her as if it was interesting and replied.

“You have seen that it didn’t rain much this summer, right?”

That’s right.

Why did a Duchy who regarded enemies from all sides as their own food warehouse suffer from food shortages before?

It was because a severe famine came in which nothing could be harvested during the upcoming harvest season.

“Yes. In the North, where farmers are rare, you may not have taken it seriously, but in other farming places, it was said that they all were wailing.”

“Hm.”

“What will happen if there is no grain there to eat even if you emptied the warehouses of other kingdoms?”

That’s what happened before the regression. No matter how high-spirited the Duke Family beat the surrounding enemies, the kingdoms that had become broke had no grain to vomit.

At Beatty’s words, the Duke made a look like he was thinking hard.

“Even the merchants. Even the battles. Although they won’t become a help.”

She spoke with a confident face.

“I have the answer.”